Lethal Magic: Sun Cursed, #3

By N. R. Hairston

Hero once peeled the skin from an entire family and hung their bodies in the front yard of their house for days. He once burned a man alive, then cut off his head while his family watched.
I'm used to fighting the local mobsters where I live, but this Hero's another league of depraved. I've caused him millions by taking out the local drug runners, now he wants me dead.
Hero's organization reaches across the globe. His people are everywhere. I've been warned this isn't a fight I can win. It's not one I'm willing to back down from either.
My hair holds the strength of all my ancestors. It can freeze a man to death or burn him alive. My boyfriend Kemp has superspeed. I bet on us, always. If this Hero wants a fight, then I say bring it. He may take my life, but I don't plan on going down alone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fire Ink Media
• Release date: Oct 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201134587

Book preview

Chapter 1

LEAH AND XAVIER WOULD be so ashamed of you!  I said to my friend Twist, throwing my ace of spades down on the table and taking his ace of diamonds to claim the book.

We were at my home, down in Cave Town. When people heard you lived in a cave, they often thought it was dark and musty. Cave town was deep underground. We had many cities here, like Log City, and River City.

We called it all Cajun. Twist and Niche lived in Blazing. That was the name for up top. Blazing, because the sun ripped into those from Cajun relentlessly when we became exposed to it.

Leah and Xavier will never know about this! Twist joked with me.

Twist was a friend of mine from up top. He and his boyfriend Niche often hung out with me and my boyfriend Kemp. That was cool. They could come here, as long as they left within twenty-four hours of first entering.

If they didn’t, they too would be stuck with the curse.

The reason Kemp, myself, and millions of others lived deeply underground was because eons ago, our ancestors had been cursed to live with the sins of every kill they’d ever made. That curse ran through the bloodlines, affecting every descendant they had. 

My entire body was covered in marks, anything from knives to swords, to small bottles of poison. If up top in the sunlight, those marks lit up golden and burned us to death.

Not only that, I had a knife mark on my throat. One of my ancestors had slit someone’s throat. In the sunlight, I could feel that knife slicing into my skin and bones, only a thousand times worse.

Same for the hundreds of other marks on my body. Sunlight killed us. So, we stayed underground. Not many knew about us. We made sure of that. People often killed what they didn’t understand.

That didn’t include Twist and Niche, though. Yes, they were from Blazing. But they were our friends. They’d helped us out of some sticky situations before.

Same for Xavier and Leah. They weren’t with us tonight because they were off at a spade tournament. That’s what they did for a living.

We should have played for money, Niche said. That would’ve given us an incentive to win.

Niche stood five feet seven, same as Twist. They were different, though. Where Twist was nothing but skin and bones, Niche was stocky, like he worked out every day. Both had dark olive skin, but Twist had piercings covering his face, ears, and hands. Niche’s skin was untouched.

Twist had dark green hair with red highlights. He also had brown eyes. Niche’s hair was black, his eyes silver. Twist’s family was originally from China. Niche’s family had come from Thailand a few generations ago.

Kemp and my family were both from Cave Town, but we too were different. I stood around five-foot-six with light brown skin and dark black hair that flowed down my back.

Kemp stood around six feet. He had pale skin and very blond hair. We were different, but we were bonded by the curse that connected everyone living in Cajun. Kemp and I had been together for years, though we still kept separate residences.

Let’s put some money on the line, then, Kemp said, reaching for his wallet. I watched him with a smile. Kemp always seemed to open up so much when Niche and Twist were around. Do you want Cajun money or Blazing money? he asked.

Twist blew wind out his mouth, shaking my windows and tables. Either. I like shopping in Cajun. We can’t get those qelesh lights anywhere else. You guys have unique items down here.

Qelesh lights were made at a factory in River City. River City was like New York or Paris down here. It held all the hip shops and cool clubs.

Qelesh lights gave off different types of energy and emitted